Celebrity in Training

or maybe Clown is a better description. Master Colin is in desperate need of a haircut, and like other caring, loving parents, Doug and I decided to take crazy pictures that may haunt him later in life.
So I present to you......Ronald McDonald in training:

This one is a few weeks old

And this one is from just last nght. Yes, that does mean that we have tortured this child a couple of times with the whole hair fluffing! And a side note, Colin is sitting on our NEW COUCH!!! I will put a better picture of it a little farther down in the post.

As I am sure you are all patiently waiting for pictures from Christmas, here are a few:

This is Colin playing with one of Bailey's presents, the MagnaDoodle. It kept him busy for a good 30 minutes!

These two pictures are of Sir Colin and Miss Bailey sitting in the "Rector Farmhouse" toybox that my dad built Colin this year. If you can't tell by the pictures, this thing is HUGE. Thank goodness Dad built the box on a grass base with casters so we can roll it around.

This is not a Christmas picture, but I have to include it. Doug's grandma recovered a child-size rocker for Colin several months ago. He has just recently taken a huge liking to this chair. It is particularly fun to get in and out of it several times within a 30 minute timeframe!

Finally a picture of our new couch. (And the baby is not naked on the couch he DOES have a diaper on, we were getting ready for bath time when this was taken!) This was one of Doug and I's presents to each other this year. We love it! Although it is made for giants, when you remove all the pillows on the back it is nearly the size of a twin bed.

That is it for now, until next time!

They Say its Your Birthday,

Dunh, da duh da duh (yes you have to sing along in your head!)
Its my birthday too-oo.... Dunh, da duh da duh !

I wish I knew the rest of the song....oh well this will suffice!

So just in case you didn't know, today is Doug's and my birthday! We aren't doing anything exciting tonight, it is a Monday after all, but have plans for the weekend. I know this is mostly about Colin, so no long posts or any really great info. Just a little "Happy Birthday" to my favorite person in the whole world!!

until next time....Annie

No news is....

BORING! So I can't keep up with this new blog lifestyle....
Nothing very interesting is happening right now. We seem to have settled into, well for lack of a better word, life. Doug and I are trucking along at work, although Doug has really slowed down since year end is over. My job isn't really busy, but things are starting to pick up as we gear up planning for the 2006 conference.

Colin is incredibly busy being nearly two. He has developed quite a little personality and ( I would like to say a little, but that is SOOO not the case) the orneriness is really coming out! He thinks he has the therapists all figured out, and to be honest they are on their toes trying to stay ahead of him. He is thriving at Cathy's, of course no one is surprised, and Cathy doesn't seem to be too hard off either. Although I have to be honest, he seems to be giving her a run for her money, thank God she's already had Jake, Brett AND Craig! ;-) So the whole reason all of you really read this poorly kept current rambling, what are the new things Colin is doing now!

His talking was really starting to come along, but then he got bitten by the walking bug...and all hopes of "real words" have flown right out the window. Colin's sole purpose in life in his eyes right now is to walk, and boy is he working at it. He has taken 3-4 steps several times on his own, not consistently but we are working on it. The DAFOs really seem to be helping support his ankles. One new thing that he is coming quite close to mastering (and when we aren't looking I am sure he can do it) is transitioning from crawling to sitting. Now mind you he has the sitting to crawling down, actually he has anything to crawling down. I swear that child cannot be still! And his new favorite game is Attacking The Daddy! Colin (and I am sure Doug) absolutely LOVES to crawl over to his father on the floor and jump on him. The giggling that ensues from this fills our whole house with the most beautiful sound in the world!!!

Anyhoo.....enough for now, I'll try to be more diligent in my updates!

Who's been a slacker?

I have obviously been on vacation because this has not been updated for over 2 weeks! I didn't even turn my computer on when I was off work, Colin and I were much too busy hanging out. Plus when you add in 4 therapist visits and all the family happenings, ugh was I even on vacation? ;) Kidding, we had a wonderful break. However I am sorry to say that I was the only one who dreaded coming back to work, when I walked in the door to pick Colin up from Cathy's on Wednesday he started crying....warm fuzzy!!! I may be the coolest mom he has ever had but I clearly don't measure up to Craig!

Doug didn't get as much vacation as I did, it being quarter- and year-end after all. He has actually started of the New Year with 3 straight 14-16 hr days, poor guy! Colin and I really miss having him at home, but we'll have him back in full force soon enough!

Anyway, a recap of the holiday season from the Rector perspective....Colin got lots of toys and other stuff (plus a great new toy box in the shape of a barn that my dad built to hold all his stuff), Doug and I hauled in a few things of our own, we had lots of quality family time (Joe turned 50, Justin was in town for several days and we attended (or hosted) 5 Christmas celebrations; highly anticipated game night update: The Faulkners tied at "Fact or Crap" and the green team won Cranium twice in a row, this was Darla's first game night...Grandma we didn't brainwash her I swear!!!) and spent a lot of good time with friends (NYE party with the Yeagers and a couple of fun nights with the Teats and Rackers!). Does life get any better than that?

Some exciting Colin updates:

• He has several new words; "Grr-Pa" (guess who LOVES that?!?!?!), "grape", "yes", "bite", "more" (much clearer than it has been in the past), and we finally got a couple of "Mom's" out of him (apparently I have to practically starve the child to get him to call me Mom!)
• We are currently on two waitlists for Hippotherapy. We might get to start full time by mid-summer.
• He is doing very well with his DAFO braces and actually took a couple of steps all by himself over the break, no worries I have it on tape (video-camera for Christmas!!!) and will hopefully soon learn how to "rip" it on to a DVD

I think that just about sums it up. I promise to get some holiday pics up shortly!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!